by Gary Hoover | Mar 24, 2021 | Articles, Data, Data, Newsletters, Retailing
The $6.3 trillion US retailing industry has evolved continuously since the end of the Civil War, when the first chain grocery stores and first department stores began to develop. This chart, based on data from the US Census, shows how the different types of...
by Gary Hoover | May 14, 2020 | Articles, Data, Newsletters, Retailing
Here is the article closest to my heart, which I had never intended to publish this soon, but once I got rolling on it, I could not stop.Gary Hoover Today, America’s great old department stores are under siege. The reasons for their decline are manifold,...
by Gary Hoover | May 14, 2020 | Data, Retailing
Click here to download the excel file.
by Gary Hoover | Apr 17, 2020 | Articles, Data, Newsletters, Retailing
In these difficult times, few companies are doing more for us than our food retailers. From aggressive steps by the largest food retailer in the world, Walmart, to advance planning by regional firms such as HEB in Texas, the nation’s grocers are continuing to...
by Gary Hoover | Nov 27, 2019 | Articles, Data, Retailing
In 1941, Fred Lazarus, Jr., had some time to kill in Houston. He had come to visit his son Ralph who was serving in the Army at nearby Ellington Field. Twelve years earlier, Lazarus and his family had united their family-owned Lazarus department...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 27, 2018 | Data, Retailing
Here is a list of the largest US discount store chains in 1968. Note that K Mart, Target, and Walmart were all founded in 1962, six years earlier. However, Walmart was not nearly big enough to make this list! Source: Discount Merchandiser Magazine, June 1969...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 27, 2018 | Data, Retailing
Here are the data slides from our video on the history of this industry. Retail History Data (PDF)
by Gary Hoover | Sep 27, 2018 | Data, Retailing
This spreadsheet contains extensive data on the largest US publicly-held retailers in 1929, 1955, 1985, and 2015. Source: Compiled by Gary Hoover from Fortune magazine lists of the biggest retailers in 1955, 1985, and 2015, and from the 1930 Moody’s Industrial Manual....